A/N: I reread this chapter when I was about to post the next and found several things that needed to be fixed. The gist of the chapter is pretty similar, but I added some additional text to the second and third parts. I believe this enhances the chapter and would suggest rereading. Revised August 2019.
Chapter 29
Hermione and Draco walk hand and hand along the beach, close enough to the water where they have to dodge the incoming waves. She tells him she is happy they stayed last night so she can see more of the his amazing island home. She sees why he loves his retreat. Along their way, Hermione periodically stops to examine a shell or piece of sea glass but doesn't release his hand and stoop to pick one up until they are almost at the restaurant. She wants a souvenir of their time here. Something tangible she can look at when she feels insecure so she remembers their confessions and their connection. She bends so she can examine the delicate shell closely. Both sides are a mirror image, except for a crack that runs through the front of one side.
Draco has been enjoying the view of her shapely bottom and legs that her position shows off. She suddenly stands and huffs, drawing his attention to her distressed face. He asks, "What is it love?" She sighs saying, "I want a memento of our time here," holding out her hands to him, "it's pretty, but there is a crack that ruins it." He takes the shell from her hand, examining it. It was once home to a scallop. The colors are remarkable being somewhat iridescent, white at the connection, turning into pink then purple. "I think it is beautiful," he responds. Looking at her, he gives her a tender kiss, then softly emphasizes, "Perfect." Casting a quick scourgify on the conjoined shell he asks, "Would you like to keep it?" She nods thinking, there is beauty and perfection still, even when things are marred. She smiles as she fondly recalls their morning and the tiny hairline crack no longer bothers her. She lifts up on her toes so she can kiss his cheek, then his lips. He pulls her closer to him with his free hand and devours her, only pulling away when he needs air. She steps back and says, "Come on, I'm hungry. Last one to the restaurant buys." Then she takes off at a run down the beach. Draco shakes his head, his appetite for food suddenly gone. That witch will be the death of me. He shrinks the shell down and puts a cushioning charm around it before placing it in his pocket and takes off after her.
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Harry sits in his office with the case file spread out in front of him. He was a little shocked when he got Hermione's patronus. He hadn't expected her to be with Malfoy. He rubs his face not really wanting to admit what he already knows. Hermione and Malfoy – ugh. Why him of all people? I'll kill him if he hurts her. Harry hadn't said anything about Hermione to the git when he saw him briefly yesterday. He wasn't about to bring up Hermione's personal life in front of Kingsley, as she would hex him into oblivion. He remembers seeing the new couple snogging on New Year's Eve and blanches. Oh Merlin, he thinks, what will Ron do when he finds out? He hasn't seen him since Christmas, where he seemed to be doing better. I want Hermione to be happy, but with Malfoy? Ron won't handle this well at all. He runs his hands through his hair.
Harry and Malfoy put aside their differences and actually work pretty well together. He thought he had ulterior motives when they started Auror training, but not anymore. He's brought down too many former Death Eaters and their accomplices to be anything but sincere. He even invoked his father's wrath. Just after their training ended, Harry heard part of a howler from Lucius yelling that Draco is a disgrace to the Malfoy name by working in a lowly ministry job.' But Harry still thinks, I hope this thing he and my best friend have burns out quickly. He sighs. No I can't think that way for Hermione's sake. He doesn't deserve her, but she deserves to be happy and if it takes ferret face to make her happy, then so be it.Harry shakes his head, not wanting to think about them as a couple any longer. He gets back to the case, thankful that at least Hermione is finding out about all the ins and outs of it. They really need her expertise.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Draco and Hermione sit at a table in a quiet and cozy, back corner of the restaurant. He insists they eat before delving into the case. After the first bite, she exclaims, "This food is amazing! I could eat it every night." He smiles, appreciating her enthusiasm for something he loves, "That would be easy to arrange."
Hermione shakes her head in wonder. It makes her think of their arrival. Lowering her voice, which he finds humorous since she saw him cast a silent muffliato so they wouldn't be overheard, "Speaking of..." She drops her eyes, "...does the ministry know you apparate here since we are really only supposed to take portkeys out of the country now?" Her question is tentative, trying not to make a big deal out of it. She wanted to ask the prior evening, but had not been confident enough in their new relationship. She had also been surprised at their location, since most magicals cannot accomplish such a long apparation, especially with a side along, without splinching. Draco nods, "Yes, since it is my home, Shacklebolt approved it as my condition of accepting his offer to become an Auror." Taken aback, her wide-eyed gaze shoots up to him. Hermione speaks before she thinks, "He offered you the position?" Draco's grip on his fork tightens and he frowns. Her comment stings. He looks out the window and hates that his voice comes out sounding so wounded, "You do not have to sound so aghast." She reaches across the table and places a hand on top of the one he has curled into a fist and dropped on the table, briefly forgetting his manners. "Draco will you look at me?" Reluctantly he turns, not sure what he will see on her face, expecting shock from his unintentional revelation or pity because he sounded so broken. All he sees is love as she traces the infinity symbol on his hand with her index finger. "I apologize that I was surprised at Kingsley's offer to you. I didn't realize he did so to anyone except Harry." Draco looks at her with a confused expression. His voice still a little tight when he says, "Plus you and all the others that fought on the right side." She smiles and shakes her head, "Nope. As far as I know, that honour was only for you and Harry. I had to apply, like everyone else." A smile ghosts over his face and she sees him visibly relax. "Oh," he says and looks down embarrassed, adding a barely heard, "Sorry." As an acceptance of his quiet apology, she squeezes his fist. He opens it up, taking her hand and lifting it up to kiss her knuckles.
When they finish their meal, Draco has the waiter clear away the dishes and bring them tea and water, telling him they will be working through the afternoon while the restaurant is closed between lunch and dinner. As the waiter walks away, he tells Hermione, "I thought we might not get as distracted if we worked here," giving her a seductive smile as he looks her over. She had transfigured one of his long sleeve green Egyptian cotton shirts to a dress for herself that stops just above her knees and it hugs her in all the correct places. She rolls her eyes at his obvious ogle and replies playfully, wiggling her eyebrows, "We'll see." He is about to get up and apparate them home, but what she says makes him stop. "Tell me your thoughts about the case."
They spend the next few hours discussing every detail. Finally he questions, "Do you have any idea who is doing this?" She smirks, "I think we should be looking for two people instead of one and one or both has or had access to information on relatives of people who were in Dumbledore's Army. When I heard Harry's aunt and uncle were victims, it pretty much confirmed the theory." This makes her shut her eyes and take a deep breath. Opening them she takes a large sip of water before continuing. "Do you want to hear the profile or how I connected the victims?" Draco scowls, ignoring her question he broods, "Potter should have made that connection." Hermione shakes her head, "Maybe not." Draco is about to argue but she stops him short when she says, "I noticed several victims had the same last name as people in the DA, but didn't check my hunch until I saw the name of a cousin to the Weasley family. Harry wouldn't have known the name. The only reason I did was because Molly's had me post several cards to him. He's a squib that lives in the muggle world. You know Harry has phenomenal instincts, but isn't so great with details. He probably dismissed the names as coincidental when there were others he didn't recognize. I owled the ministry and got a list of every living relative of people from the DA. There is a victim from each person's family, except those who died during the war. That is except for me, Luna Lovegood and at the time, I thought Harry." Neither said what both were thinking, that her parents are probably victims. He knows he needs to write to Zellina when he returns home with this news. Draco sighs, not wanting to upset her but he is frustrated with Scarhead so he exclaims, "We might have been able to warn them and prevented some attacks if he had thought a little harder!" His best friend and the odd blonde he is dating come to mind, "Speaking of, we need to make Lovegood aware." Hermione pulls herself out of thoughts of her parents, smiling at his concern for her friend and continues, "I warned Luna yesterday. She confirmed that her father is her only living relative and he never leaves their home since rebuilding it after the war. She assured me they have good wards and she would be on guard." He smiles, "Of course you did. Do you think he or they might go after Theo since they are dating?" She think for a moment. "I don't think so since it would go against their standard MO, but if they can't get to her father or her, they might. We should probably warn him. If you'll let me borrow your wand again I'll send her a patronus." He hands it over to her without a second thought and it makes her feels warm and fuzzy. She really has not missed hers. It's actually easier sharing his wand than it was sharing hers with Harry while hunting horcruxes.
When she completes the task he asks, "What is MO? "She replies, "It's the abbreviation for modus operandi." He gives her a quizzical look, "Latin for method of working?" She smiles, "Yes, it's a term used by muggles for the method in which a crime is committed. For our case, the standard MO for the victim is to be related, even distantly, to someone in the DA., the victims are always found seated, with no injuries, except for their missing soul." She takes another sip of water before continuing. I also told Arthur and Molly since only one person from their family has been targeted so far and there were four family members in the DA. Fred is..." Draco looks stricken. She reaches up to touch her time-turner necklace, Draco is pleased that it seems to comfort her. She takes a few breaths before finishing, "Fred is...gone...so that leaves two more possibilities. It would make sense that more might be taken from the Weasleys."
Hermione swallows down more water and notices her shaking hand as she tries to control her emotions. Although thoughts of her parents being victims had crossed her mind, she quickly dismisses it. If I haven't been able to find them, these people wouldn't be able to. Draco thought otherwise, he knew she had waited several months after the war before searching for her family, that would have given the bastards plenty of time. They were both wrong, the Grangers had been found long before that.
"I need a quick break." She looks down the notes she's made today spread across the table and grimaces. "Then we'll get back to this." He walks around to her side and kisses her neck, then whispers in her ear, "A break sounds like just what we need." She gives him a quick peck to soften her words, "Not until we finish going over the case." He gives her the best pouty look with puppy dog eyes she has ever seen. She caresses his cheek, "After, I promise, this is important, plus I need to ask a favor." He grins wickedly, "I'll do anything you ask of me." With mock annoyance she replies, "Not like that, at least until after." She winks and him before standing and sashaying off toward the ladies room.
When Hermione returns to the table Draco stands. She notices they have fresh tea and some biscuits. She smiles and thanks him, realizing he got the refreshments since they are currently there alone. This begins her thinking of what they could be doing besides work, but she puts duty before hormones. They both sit and he says, "I was thinking about what you told me thus far and have a question. Why two souls for Potter when everyone else is one?" She furrows her brow, "Oh you are right, maybe the extra was because of the Weasley's participation." She pauses, biting her lip thinking. Draco has to look away from her face since that drives him mad. "No, no, that can't be right." He can almost see her thought process. "It's because he led the group. Oh goodness, I have to...Dudley." He looks at her strangely, "What is dudalee? Is it a muggle thing I have not learned of yet?" Hermione smirks, "Well it technically could be considered a muggle thing." Hermione dissolves into giggles, laying back in her chair. It takes her a few moments to quiet her laughing, especially with how confused Draco looks. Finally she responds, "Dudley is Harry's git of a cousin. Vernon & Petunia's son." He looks more confused "A muggle had a child with a flower? I know about that whole clone thing with the sheep doll but a flower?" Hermione loses it again. She's laughing so hard she has tears in her eyes. It takes several minutes to stop this time and she can tell Draco is trying not to get frustrated with her. He was not upset with her at all, just embarrassed at his lack of knowledge. "Oh Draco, I apologize. I love the fact that you know about cloning and the cloned sheep named, Dolly. But this has nothing to do with that. Harry's mum's family apparently liked using flower names, like the Black's do constellations. Harry's aunt is named Petunia and his Mum's Lily and I believe their mother was Rose." Draco nods in understanding. The more he learns about muggles the more he sees the similarities. When he was young, he would never have thought muggles would have done something like that too. "May I use your wand again to let Harry know he needs to be sure his cousin is protected?" He hands it over and watches her with interest. Her otter really suits her. It's cute and spunky, but serious. It even nods as she tells it what to say. He's surprised it doesn't take out a quill and parchment to take notes. He files that thought away to tease her about another time. When she's done it does a loop around them both before taking off. He can feel the magic tingle around him. Smiling she says, "Wow, I think she likes you. She's never done that before." He replies smugly, Of course she does."
The stare at each other, until they hear a jingle, and the evening workers begin to drift in. Broken from her trance she asks Draco to recast the silencing charm so they can return to work. She clears her throat, "Okay, back to the suspects. There are two people working together with one dominating the other. That's why there are minute recurring inconsistencies at the crime scenes, mainly being some upheaval. It's either the subordinate can't remove the soul without subduing the victim first or the dominant tidies up while the subordinate does not. That would be why, at times there's an overturned chair or broken vase and the like. Working together but separate, would also give verifiable alibis. The thought being if one is found out, they won't be charged since they have solid alibis during some of the crimes.
As far as their relationship, The subordinate doesn't realize he is being controlled. The dominate could be male or female and the subordinate is male. They are both narcissistic, but the dominant is more intelligent and is able to manipulate mainly by using a pseudo relationship between the two, allowing the subordinate to think he is the dominant. Both are in their late teens to early twenties and were negatively impacted by the war and blame those in the DA as being responsible. The dominant is a psychopath, feeling no empathy for the subordinate or victims. The subordinate would have never come up with the plans on his own and feeds off the dominant's lust for revenge. The subordinate is insecure, hiding behind a false bravado. He feels stronger when he thinks he is controlling and protecting the dominant by doing his/her biding, especially since he thinks it is his idea. One of them has access to gain information on relatives of those in the DA, more than likely through the ministry. So the next step is to see who can see those files. I also know it isn't someone who knows Harry very well. If they had, they would have gone after more of the Weasleys, since Harry sees them as family, not his relatives."
Draco looks at her stunned. He knows she is good at her job, but this is amazing. "All that from the file?" She nods. "I think I should have brought you the case notes sooner." She grins and raises an eyebrow playfully at him since he wouldn't let her have them until the day before. "Anyway, there's more, I think they are keeping the souls as trophies since they are not killing the victims. I have an idea on how they are doing it and we might be able to restore them to the bodies if I am correct. The favor I need for work is access to books that we don't have at the ministry." He sighs dreading it. Hermione had already asked the unspeakables for one book she knows she needs to check yesterday with no luck. The next best location to find it would be at the Malfoy Manor library. Their books had been catalougued after the war, but short of burning the books or rather the Manor, there was no way to remove them from there. Blood bonds that had been placed on them, many over a century ago. The books of dark magic had been bound to the bookshelves. They could only be removed by a Malfoy and could not be removed at all from the Manor. He and Minister Shacklebolt made an unbreakable vow with Hermione as witness and binder. Draco can access them if they are needed for a case. "You know I hate the Manor, probably at least, if not more than you do. May we eat dinner before we go?"
She stands and Draco jumps up. She smiles at his manners. She does a few stretches and is flattered to see him watching, They had been working for several hours without stopping, except for the one short break. She walks over to him giving him a long lingering kiss. She looks outside and the afternoon sun is hanging low in the sky. "I think we can wait until tomorrow morning." He pulls her into his lap, kissing her breathless. Finally stopping he asks, "Let's get dinner to go and no more talk about work?" She nods, kissing him lightly, then gets up and makes her way back to the loo. He adjusts himself before standing and making his way to the kitchen to get their dinner together, looking forward to the rest of the evening.